Time to pay the bills: Ukraine to be responsible for interfering in the American elections

Theself-confidence of the American Democrats, with whom they clearly miscalculated in the last US presidential election, can cost a lot to a party that relied on a not-so-reliable partner — Ukraine.

Winners are not judged. Apparently, it was this eternal thesis that motivated the democrats when they enlisted the support of Ukrainian politicians in the struggle for the White House. Representatives of Kiev were even more imbued with the meaning of this expression, who apparently simply could not believe that the Republicans with their Donald Trump would be able to withstand the large-scale campaign that their opponents launched.

Anticipating the victory of Hillary Clinton, Ukrainian politicians of various levels criticized Trump in every possible way, however, this is the lesser evil. What is more interesting is that at the beginning of 2016, the Barack Obama administration began to dig under Trump and began just from Ukraine. Democrats tried to collect incriminating evidence on political strategist Paul Manafort, which, as they know, succeeded.

The further development of events is well known to all. The will of ordinary Americans prevailed over political speculation, opening the way to the White House for Trump, the Democrats began to promote the topic of Russian intervention, but they could not prove the collusion of the 45th US president with the Kremlin. However, only now, years later, it becomes clear that the whole story with RussiaGate hid a banal attempt to better hide numerous skeletons in the cabinets of the Democratic Party.

Here begins a new chapter in this story, which can cost a career to so many politicians. From the point of view of the Democrats, RussiaGate did not end very well. Of course, we must understand that they simply ran out of resources for such an expensive campaign. Nevertheless, the report of Robert Muller actually untied the hands of Donald Trump exactly at the start of a new presidential race. Moreover, the Democratic Party literally made a gift to the president, choosing Joe Biden as his favorite in the race.

As you know, the vice president of Barack Obama got his hands dirty in a corruption scandal in Ukraine, where he blackmailed the then president Petro Poroshenko. He demanded the dismissal of the attorney general, who initiated inspections of the company, co-owned by Biden Jr. The oil and gas company Burisma was involved in corruption schemes, and investigations could turn into an international scandal. Because Joe Biden posed Poroshenko a choice: justice or US financial assistance. And Poroshenko chose the money.

All this makes Biden an excellent opponent for Trump, but the head of the White House is clearly set for a big revenge. No wonder the US Attorney General William Barr took up the investigation of the Democrats’ relations with Ukrainian politicians, and President’s lawyer Rudolf Giuliani several times called for cooperation in this matter, the new President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky.

Most Ukrainian politicians who once supported Hillary Clinton today fall into the “former” category. Their influence in Ukraine has been exhausted, there is no trust on the part of the people, moreover, many have a reputation for corruption, including Petro Poroshenko. The ex-president with great difficulty was able to promote his party «European Solidarity» in the parliament of Ukraine, having received parliamentary immunity. It is necessary to take into account the fact that he is an ardent opponent of Vladimir Zelensky and has already noted attempts to discredit his successor, which is not so difficult, given the difference in the amount of political experience.

Of course, it might seem that with a high level of public support and a majority in the parliament, Zelensky does not make sense to fear Poroshenko. However, do not forget that we are talking about Ukraine — a country that has survived two revolutions. And it should be noted that almost all the defendants of the second — the Revolution of dignity — now rallied precisely around Poroshenko. Given that Zelensky is waiting for 5 years of rule in a country with a deplorable state of the economy, a multi-billion dollar external debt, a demographic crisis and war, having an opponent like Poroshenko on hand is not the best thing you can think of. No wonder the head of state intends to introduce a bill on the abolition of immunity for deputies to parliament.

Moreover, we must not forget that Zelensky came to power in the wake of his high-profile promises to bring to justice all the major corrupt officials of Ukraine who came to power in 2014. Poroshenko, who at the beginning of the year became a defendant in the theft of state money through defense industry enterprises, including those.

And in this sense, the interests of the American president and his Ukrainian counterpart can converge. Of course, Zelensky for a long time pretended not to notice flirting on the part of the White House, but already in September the two heads of state would hold negotiations that could have very interesting consequences. Do not forget that Trump, first of all, is a businessman and knows how to make offers that cannot be refused. Zelensky, to some extent, is also a representative of business. In any case, in this he has more experience than in managing the country. Therefore, it is safe to say that many politicians in Kiev and Washington will nervously observe the negotiations, anticipating not the best outcome for them.